Vince Dillon, standing a full 6’2 ¾’, has never been given the shot to captain a team, until now. With the loss of last year’s center Josh Valladares, the BSGE Boys basketball team was in need of a leader to take charge this season. Mr. Anderson called upon Dillon as his man. “I’m looking for Vincent, Taylor and Jehan to step up and teach the rest of the team our motto: “Hustle, Leadership, Focus”. Anderson went on to discuss the leadership qualities presented by Vincent last year, and even more so, the progress of his game going from freshman year on to his new role on this ’08-’09 team in his fourth year of BSGE basketball. Naturally, as any four-year player, Dillon has seen his playing time increase tremendously over the course of his high-school career.
His role as a leader on the team has affected his attitude toward his own game. “On the court I have to be an example; if we are down I still have to play my hardest and be a vocal leader”. It’s as though Vince has allowed the newfound leadership role to come to him.
Last season was not a reputable one for the Basketball Sting; the team suffered a well under .500 season and found victory in only its final game of the campaign. Dillon acknowledges this lack of performance and still embraces it; “This year is an opportunity to improve upon what we established last year; our offensive system is basic, we just need to carry out the plays better than we did last year.” The Sting will need to carry out these plays under difficult circumstances playing with a remarkably short bench in ’08-’09, possibly limited to just ten players.
Dillon’s mindset was to wipe the slate clean for this season; all but for one game. Last year in the second half of the February 12th game against Newcomers High School, Dillon committed a hard foul against the Newcomers big man, Jose Vasquez. The 6’5 center shouted “Are you crazy?” after the foul; in response, Dillon yelled “No Ese, I’m Loco”. After further argument, Newcomers coach Joseph DePrimo watched Jose get himself ejected from the game. While BSGE went on to lose the game, Dillon prevailed in the mental battle on the court, and it didn’t go unnoticed among his teammates. BSGE plays Newcomers again for the first time since that game again on 12/4, at the LIC YMCA.
With 21 games on tap for this year, Vince, speaking for the rest of the team, is looking for BSGE supporters to come out in bunches. “All I can ask is that our school support this team and that’s the bottom line – if you’re interested then show up the games and cheer.”
Vince Dillon is this year’s vocal leader for the Sting, and is taking his captain’s role on Coach Anderson’s team as a new opportunity. With only one win all of last season, Dillon’s team will be looking to excel far past what they achieved last year. According to Dillon, that’s exactly what will happen. “Honestly, I’m expecting, simply, a better season – as a matter of fact, I can guarantee it.”